Mother's Day 2015

Hi, hope you've all had a good week.

Mother's Day was a few weeks ago so I thought I would share my Mother's Day gift and card.  It's taken me a little while to sort my photos out, so apologies for the delay.

Firstly the gift; I started with a 'special mum' MDF blank from Anna Marie Designs and glued, then painted it with a Range Paint Dabber in Juniper.

When the paint was completely dry I stamped an Inkylicious script stamp with Flitter Glue and used gilding flakes over the script.

Next I went round the edge with some pale rose gilding powder that I bought from the Stencil Library, it's hard to see in the pictures but you can just see it on the edge of the glittered flowers that I covered in in PVA glue and then added two colours of Chloe's Chunky Glitter.

Next I used some Arianna Blooms and Arianna Lace die cuts for the flowers and flourishes and dug out a packet of rosettes I had in my stash.  I inked round the edge of the flowers before assembling them and added a couple of the flower stamens (also from Anna Marie Designs).  I only used a few as they were so floppy ... it didn't occur to me until later that I could have put some PVA on them to stiffen them up, doh!

I then placed the buttons and pearls (both from a Tattered Lace show) in place and shuffled everything around until I was happy and then I glued everything down with my brilliant hot glue pen.

This is the rear view and also where I did my practice run on the stamping and gilding!

This is a view from the top and you can just about see the gilding powder on the top and at the front.

The card was quite simple; as ever I had spent so much time on the gift I had to be quick with the card.  The base card came from a pack I ordered from Create and Craft a while ago and  I embossed the next layer with a Tattered Lace Embossing Folder then inked round the edges.  Next I cut three of my favourite Labels 1, the patterned paper on the left side was from my scrap box and the right hand side was printed on the PC and then die cut.  I covered the messy middle with a ribbon, added a bow and a paper flower from Wild Orchid Crafts and ended with two stick pins that I made a while ago that happened to match.

No bloopers this time ... just my usual slightly rough looking inking, I definitely need to practice making it blend better.

Well that's it for this week, thanks for reading, hope you all had a great week.

MCS Magazine Issue 4 - Eskimo Kisses

Hi everyone

I haven't been around much recently as my mum has been poorly again so the blog has had to take a bit of a back seat.  I have still been making cards though, so here are the samples I made for the show on Sunday 19 October.

I liked this CD as the characters are so cute without being sickly, I love Robins at Christmas, but all the other characters are lovely too.  When I watched the show back one of the design team had made a card with the seal looking out of the picture as if he had photo bombed it, it was really cute.

First sample was a Pillow Box, and they are so simple to cut out and decorate but they make a great gift box.  I cut out the box and added a strand of lace and on top of that a blue ribbon.  The flourish is a Heartfelt Creations die and the flowers are a pom pom die by Tattered Lace.  I stamped a piece of card and embossed some snow flakes on it before die cutting so it gives a bit of background shimmer.  Some glittered gems from my stash with a bit of Chloe's chunky glitter and it was done.

Now the photography on this one makes it look like Rudolph has a nosebleed, but it actually is red glitter!  I covered an 8x8 card with a background paper from the CD that I had added the moon to from the picture builder section, then used the Tattered Lace Reindeer and Christmas Greetings dies.  Next I  die cut the Christmas Tree and added some snow white flower soft to finish off.  I debated for a while about whether to decorate the tree but in the end decided to leave it all white.

This card is actually a tag that with the MCS software I put two side by side and then cut out.  With some peel offs, a bow and a sentiment it was finished.  Now, I did say a bow and it was made with the MCS Bow Maker that I love.  I have heard some people on line muttering about Afro Combs being the same, but I love the bow maker.  It is so small and simple to use, much easier than some of the more expensive bow makers I have bought.  Maybe it's because I am so useless at tying bows that I love it, and would recommend it to anyone who struggles tying bows like me.  I used to spend more time tying the bow than making the card, and a double bow would have been out of the question!

This card was made using a Sheena snowflakes embossing folder that I die cut into a frame and then rubbed really lightly with some teal gilding wax.  I used the picture builder section of the CD to place the tree, the seal with bauble (that I changed the colour of as it was red originally and blended into the scarf) the teddy pulling the sleigh in the background and finally placing the moon. I stuck the frame on the image then matted it all on some silver mirri card, some small die cut snow flakes and stars from a Memory Box die added the Tattered Lace Christmas Greetings die and sample four was complete.

This card almost made itself.  I embossed the front of the card with another Sheena embossing folder and then inked lightly over the top.  I have always been a bit light handed with ink but really found that the more I added the better it looked, I think I just need to be a bit braver!  Next I cut out the aperture with a Spellbinders bauble die and put the image behind it that I had made using the picture builder section of the CD.  I just love robins at Christmas.  I cut out a bright red bracket label and stuck on a sentiment from the CD that I punched out and then inked round.  Finally I added a bit of glitter to the bauble and the red beads to make the leaves look more Christmassy.  Looking at the card now I think I should have put a red bow at the top of the bauble to finish it off.

This final card was a glitterfest!  I used one of the toppers from the CD and then cut out an additional blank label for the sentiment.  The base dotty card is from Anna Marie Designs that I bought at the Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham sometime this year.  The next layer is one of the backing papers that I distressed using one of those little circular distressing tools and a bit of ripping!  Then I distressed the topper and the blank label and then glittered away using some PVA glue that I smeared on with my fingers and then some of Chloe's chunky glitter.  After adding the sentiment that was the die on a recent Tattered Lace magazine and some Card Candi, it was done.

Well that's all for this time, no massive bloopers this time, although it was a close run thing on the Tag Card, as when I first put the bow on you couldn't see the owl!  If you would, please say a little prayer for my mum as she isn't well at the moment.

Hope you all have a great and crafty week.